Posts

Three Corners To Four Corners

The Idea

A
simple idea, I think Kevin first floated it, drive from the three
corners (UT, AZ, NV) to the four corners (UT, CO, NM, AZ). As much
of it on dirt as possible.

With a
time limit, of course. Eric and I were only able to get away for
five days total, so, we had five days to get from Salt Lake, to the
three corners, to the four corners, and back to Salt Lake.

And
with a slight twist. No route planning ahead of time. We were just
going to get to the three corners and wing it from there. Figuring
out as we went, how to get in as much dirt as possible, and
preferably make it to four corners sometime before the end of the
fourth day.

Day One, SLC To Three Corners And Beyond

The three of us, me, Eric and Kevin, met at Eric’s house at a fashionably late hour on Wed. morning – about 7am. Then we started the convoy south, Kevin in his Excursion, Eric in his F150, me in my LJ.

ST. George To Three Corners

We
topped off the tanks in St. George and headed out of town and through
the Beaver Dam Mountains for Beaver Dam Wash. With a bit of route
finding to cross the wash and choosing the less traveled fork heading
generally south we arrived at the Three Corners Monument around
noonish.

Three Corners Flags

Three Corners Monument

Somewhat surprised to find it fairly crowded on a Wed. afternoon in early March, we didn’t hang around long. We headed further south and then east for Beaver Dam.

Scarecrow in a Joshua tree

Cedar Pockets To Lizard Wash

At
Beaver Dam we consulted our maps and the magic 8 ball and decided to
escape pavement by taking the Cedar Pockets road back over the Beaver
Dam Mountains.

A good call! The scenery in Cedar Pockets was great.

Cedar Pockets, Beaver Dam Mountains

When
we hit I-15 again, we pounded pavement north about ten miles to the
first dirt that looked like it would get us some distance east, at
Black Knolls. Getting late, once a respectable distance from the
interstate, we took a random mostly flat spot on the side of the
trail to camp for the night.

Camp in Big Valley

Day Two, Fort Pearce To Page

In the
morning, we continued on the secondary route we were on, headed for
Fort Pearce Wash. Which, we connected to and headed east up the wash
for Fort Pearce.

I think this is primarily a side by side route, but we all fit through the width restricting gates, so we were good to go.

Squeezing the big rigs through the gate

The Excursion fits!

It was
a fun little drive. My only regret, is we didn’t run into a big
group of side-by-sides while in the wash. I’d have loved to have
seen the looks on some of their faces seeing Kevin’s Excursion
leading the way up that trail!

The wash eventually led us to the ruins of Fort Pearce.

Fort Pearce ruins

The
fort was erected in 1866, during the Black Hawk War – a period of
fighting between the Mormons and the local Ute and Navajo tribes
intent on driving the Mormons out of the area. The wash was a
natural pathway for coming and going for raiding parties. The site
overlooks the only natural spring for miles, in a high walled narrow
section of the wash. No fights took place at the fort, but it was
manned off and on until 1873.

We took some time here to walk around and look at some of the rock art and pioneer inscriptions near the fort.

Fort Pearce Petroglyphs

Pioneer inscriptions, B.F. Goates in 1873 and again in 1883

From there we hit the dinosaur trackway in Warner Valley.

Dinosaur trackway

From
there we decided to head back into Arizona and pick up the Honeymoon
trail as a possible route east over the Hurricane Cliffs. But, only
a short distance into the trail we hit a carsonite that said it was
closed. So we backed out of there and consulted the maps for another
route.

It was
at this point, it dawned on us that we were half way through our
second day and had barely made any progress east towards the four
corners. We decided that like it or not, we were going to have to do
some significant pavement pounding to put ourselves in a position to
reach our objective in the time we had.

So, we
went into Hurricane for gas and headed out of town on 59. Not far
from town a random dirt road beckoned and we got off the highway for
awhile, ending up at what looked like an abandoned golf course
project.

The odd things you see out there…

Then
we got back on the highway in earnest. Taking pavement to Fredonia,
Jacob Lake, along the Vermillion Cliffs, eventually connecting with
89 at Bitter Springs, then north to Page where we fueled up again.

It was getting late in the day so we tried a couple random dirt roads heading north out of Page and the second one provided a neat spot to camp for the night near Bishops Tank.

Concrete bunker near Bishops Tank. Anyone know what it was for?

Camp near Bishops Tank

Day Three, Smoky Mountain And Burr Trail To Ticaboo

We got up and broke camp on day three, then consulted the map and 8 ball again to figure out where we were going to go. It was kind of a tossup between heading east across the Navajo reservation or taking a northerly route, but in the end we went north. Choosing to get off pavement quickly, we headed up the Smoky Mountain road.

Ascending the switch backs

Overlook from the top of the switch backs

The
Smoky Mountain drive was fantastic! But eventually, we found
ourselves back on pavement again at Escalante. Consulting the map
once more, we decided on super scenic highway 12 to Boulder, then
take the Burr highway from there.

It was raining when we got to Muley Twist but we drove to the trail head and took the short hike to Strike Valley overlook anyway.

Kevin at Strike Valley overlook

Descending into Waterpocket Fold

The Henry Mountains in the distance

Then we headed south on Notom road to Bullfrog and started looking around for a spot to camp for the night. We ended up at a gorgeous spot at Ant Knolls.

Camp at Ant Knolls

Eric digging the fire pit

Campfire at Ant Knolls

Day Four, Valley Of The Gods, Four Corners, Montezuma Canyon

To start day four, we decided we were going to have to hit the pavement again. So we headed up to North Wash, across the river at Hite and over to Cedar Mesa, then down the Moki Dugway and back on dirt for a drive through Valley of the Gods.

Stretching our legs

Kevin looking up at a nice Barrier Canyon Style pictograph

Jeep in Valley of the Gods

Kevin’s Excursion, Valley of the Gods

From
VoG, we hit Bluff and decided to beat feet on pavement for four
corners. Taking the route from Bluff through Montezuma creek.

Upon arriving at the four corners, we all decided we didn’t need to get to the exact spot bad enough to pay $5 for a tourist trap, so we called it close enough at the entrance.

Just about as close as we got to the actual four corners

Montezuma Canyon

With plenty of daylight left in day four, we went looking for dirt from there. Deciding to head for Montezuma Canyon via dirt from Aneth, which took us close to the Cajon unit of Hovenweep so we stopped to take a look.

Cajon ruins in Hovenweep National Monument

Cajon ruins

The
route dumped us out at Hatch Trading Post, basically just across the
road from more dirt in Montezuma Canyon, so up the canyon we went.
Lots of cool stuff to see in Montezuma Canyon.

Ute petroglyphs in Montezuma Canyon

Fremont petroglyphs in Montezuma Canyon

Eric and Kevin approaching a rock art panel

Small granary

Old cabin

3 Kivas Peublo

Inside kiva

Ruins in Montezuma Canyon

As the afternoon grew late, we chose another random side track and found a great camp site for the night.

Camp in Montezuma Canyon

Day Five, End Of The Dirt

The
last day, all over except for the drive home… After breaking camp
this last day, we continued up Montezuma Canyon until it dumped us
out on the highway south of Monticello. From there, it was just
another long boring pavement drive home and The End of a great trip!

Summary

Article Name

Three Corners To Four Corners

Description

Travelling from the Three Corners to The Four Corners, five states in five days, with as much dirt as we could.

Post navigation

4 thoughts on “Three Corners To Four Corners”

Hey Dave,,,,, well, once again Dam Nice Write-Up and Photos,,,,, as usual, but that Overlook Photo, Dam,,,,, thats right out of a John Ford-John Wayne Western, I’ve got it as my Screen-Saver, as I’ve said before,,,,,, I like your Style.
BD in Alaska

Im happy I found your new website. I hope you are doing well? Glad to see you’re still getting out and exploring. I love the way you tell the story and your awesome pictures make it seem like the reader is there alongside. I’d like to chat with you on the phone about a gun project I’m starting, I want some of your expert advice! As long as you don’t mind anyway.